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What is Alzheimer’s? … Introduction . Alzheimers disease is a brain disorder named for German physician Alois Alzheimer, who first described it in 1906.

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Can You Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease? What You Need to Know

24th July 2008

Author: Susan Nickerson, DC

Without a doubt, there is nothing more painful than watching someone you love wither away from Alzheimer’s disease.

Nothing is more upsetting than discovering that your parent doesn’t recognize you anymore, and can’t remember where he lives — or even tell you the year. Let’s face it, it’s scary to think that one day, your mind might degenerate and leave you mentally crippled for the rest of your life.
But, can you prevent Alzheimer’s disease? Fortunately, the answer is “yes”. There are steps you can take to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s — and ensure that you will maintain healthy mental functioning well into the later years of your life.

Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D. has been President and Medical Director of the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation since 1993, and has been studying the disease for two decades. He believes that the best way to defend against Alzheimer’s is to incorporate a series of prevention methods into your life. Dr. Khalsa has developed his “4 Pillars of Prevention” to aid in the process:

Pillar 1: Diet and Vitamins

Keeping your brain healthy and nourished is an important step in preventing Alzheimer’s and memory loss. According to Dr. Khalsa, a good Alzheimer’s disease prevention diet should include the following:
1. 20% “good” fat: omega-3s from extra virgin olive oil, avocado, flax seed oil, and eating fish
2. 50% lean protein: fish, chicken, turkey, and soy
3. 30% complex carbohydrates: fresh vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and fresh fruits
4. Superfoods for the brain: blueberries, spinach, and seaweed

It is also important to avoid a diet high in trans-fat and saturated fat. These fats produce free radicals, which in high quantities can damage and even kill brain cells. Antioxidants such as vitamins C and E help eliminate free radicals from your body. Other brain and memory specific nutrients are also important.

Pillar 2: Stress Management

Research has shown that chronic stress is among the biggest factors in developing Alzheimer’s. When you experience stress, your body produces the hormones cortisol and adrenaline to respond to the situation. With chronic stress, your cortisol levels remain high, and this adversely affects your brain.

Cortisol affects the hippocampus, the section of your brain responsible for storing memories. It prevents the hippocampus from getting proper amounts of glucose and it slows nerve impulse transmission, which can kill brain cells. Brain studies of people suffering from late stages of Alzheimer’s disease show that they have a hippocampus that is considerably smaller than that of a normally functioning brain.

By using regular stress relaxation techniques, you can improve your focus, attention, and mental performance. Meditation is an effective method for stress reduction – it helps lower cortisol levels, which will ultimately improve your mental functioning. Other stress management techniques include prayer, deep breathing, and massage.

Pillar 3: Exercise and Brain Aerobics

Of course physical exercise is important. However, neurologists have also found that frequent mental exercise will reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s by 70%! It is important that you spend at least 20 minutes, three times a week engaging in some sort of mental exercise. In order for an activity to be considered brain aerobics, it must meet the following criteria:

1. It needs to engage your attention
2. It must involve more than one of your senses
3. It must break up a routine activity in an unexpected, non-trivial way

Examples of mental exercise include visiting a museum and discussing it, reading, writing, playing board games, and so on.

Pillar 4: Pharmaceuticals

There are a few pharmaceutical drugs that can help improve the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in some patients several years. However, it is important to be careful with these drugs. Many have serious side effects such as dizziness, nausea, and diarrhea that you should discuss with your doctor.

Some of the most effective drugs used to treat Alzheimer’s disease include Aricept (donepezil), Exelon (rivasigmine), Namenda (memantine), and Razadyne (galantamine).

Fortunately, using the positive and practical strategies in this article, if asked “can you prevent Alzheimer’s?”, you can now answer in the affirmative.

Now I would like to invite you to visit the non-profit Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation website at http://www.alzheimersprevention.org to discover even more tips about how you can maintain healthy brain functioning and memory well into the later stages of your life.

What is Alzheimer’s? … Introduction . Alzheimers disease is a brain disorder named for German physician Alois Alzheimer, who first described it in 1906.What is Alzheimer’s?

Bright Light Therapy aids sleeping disorders in Alzheimer’s Disease

25th March 2008

Author: allergymatters

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease of the brain that causes dementia, gradually destroying a person’s memory and ability to learn, reason, make judgements, communicate and carry out normal daily activities. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, particularly in older adults and accounting for about 60% of all cases. Most cases of Alzheimer’s develop in those aged 65 or over. Below the age of 65, Alzheimer’s is rare, affecting about 1 person in 1000. Over the age of 65 it affects about 1 in 20. The risk of developing Alzheimer’s continues to increase with age, so those aged 80 have a higher risk of developing it than those aged 65. By the age of 85 nearly 1 in 2 will have the disease. Women have a slightly greater chance of developing Alzheimer’s than men. It is thought that about 500,000 people in the UK are believed to have the disease. There is no known cure for Alzheimer’s disease and very few effective treatments are available.

The symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease can vary greatly, but those with the disease often have one or more of the following:
1. Problem with memory
2. Problems with speech and language
3. Confusion
4. Changes in mood and behaviour
5. Problem learning new information, ideas or skills
6. Difficulty performing simple everyday tasks

People afflicted with Alzheimer’s often suffer disturbances in circadian (daily) rhythm, which affects body functions such as sleep cycles, temperature, alertness and hormone production. As a result, impaired sleep and nocturnal restlessness place great burdens on the sufferer and the care giver. Sedatives are usually prescribed; however these have limited usefulness and are typically accompanied by side effects.

It is thought that daily exposure of Alzheimer’s patients to bright light may resolve circadian rhythm sleep disorders. According to the Sleep Review, clinical research has shown that exposure to very bright light in the day and darkness at night can consolidate rest and activity patterns in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. In a 12-week trial involving 27 women and 5 men aged 60-95 years, 15 subjects received 1 hour of exposure to bright natural light each morning and 17 control subjects were exposed only to normal low-light conditions. Results obtained from this trial indicated a trend toward increased sleep efficiency (percentage of time in bed spent asleep), decreased nighttime wakefulness, and decreased nighttime activity in the intervention group, compared with the controls.

Although further research needs to be done in this area, existing research have produced very promising results, which is a real light at the end of the tunnel for Alzheimer’s Disease sufferers, caregivers and family members caring for such patients.

Useful links
Alzheimer’s Society
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/

NHS Direct - Alzheimer’s disease
http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=14

Family Practice News Article - Light Therapy Aids Alzheimer’s Sleep Disorders
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BJI/is_17_30/ai_66168796
Sleep Review - Light Therapy and Alzheimer’s disease
http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/issues/articles/2003-01_01.asp

Disclaimer
This article is only for informative purposes. It is not intended to be a medical advice and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your doctor for all your medical concerns. Kindly follow any information given in this article only after consulting your doctor or qualified medical professional. The author is not liable for any outcome or damage resulting from any information obtained from this article.

This past month the most-read posts on the Health Affairs Blog focused particularly on the quest for value and quality via evidence-based medicine (EBM), comparative effectiveness lessons from the UK, and new research on quality and P4P. Other highly read posts covered the continuing presidential campaign and state health reform debates; immigration policy; and a meeting of Wall Street analysts discussing health politics and policymaking. We welcome your continued comments.To receive immediately updated headlines from the Health Affairs Blog, you can grab our blog RSS feed for your reader, or you may syndicate the feed on your Web site (all blog content is free access). Or you may sign up for e-mail alerts.EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE: The Difficult But Critical Step Of Adding Costby Sean R. Tunis and David EddyMEDICARE POLITICS: Heard On The Streetby Rob CunninghamBLOG: Top Health and Medicine Blogsby Jane Hiebert-WhiteQUALITY: Are Doctors Asking The Right Questions?by Rob CunninghamCOMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS INFORMATION: Would The U.S. Use It In A NICE Way?by Jonathan GardnerHEALTH AFFAIRS JOURNAL: Iglehart To Step Down From Editorship Of Health Affairs; Robinson To Become Editor-In-Chiefby Chris FlemingREFORM: State Reforms And The Presidential Campaign: SCHIPs Passing In The Night?by Sarah DineINSURANCE: Coverage For Immigrants: 5 Myths And A Health Plan In Mexicoby Lee-Lee PrinaP4P: Money TalksBut Only Sometimesby Chris FlemingCOVERAGE: 1 Out Of 5 Nonelderly Adults Are Uninsured; Kids Faring Betterby Jane Hiebert-WhiteCopyright © 2007 Health Affairs Blog. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. All material published on Health Affairs blog, excluding links, is covered under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - No Derivs 2.5 license.Plugin by Taragana (Source: Health Affairs Blog)Blog: top 10 posts health affairs blog posts for june: effectiveness, ebm, and more

Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia … Alzheimer InfoLine: 1-800-611-6345 A free, confidential call from anywhere in Nova Scotia.

http://www.alzheimer.ns.ca/